New marine strike helicopter to aid assault on land and sea

Mar 30, 2015

RIR

Nikolay Surkov

The helicopter's marine version will carry an expanded range of both guided and unguided weapons. Source: AP

Russia will continue to work on building a marine version of the attack helicopter Ka-52, despite the uncertainty about the supply of assault helicopter carriers “Mistral” to the Navy. These will aid in operations against both tanks on the surface and ships at sea.

Russia will continue to work on building a
marine version of the attack helicopter Ka-52, despite the uncertainty about
the supply of assault helicopter carriers “Mistral” to the Navy.

“First, our own helicopter carriers are
under construction, and second, a helicopter such as Ka-52K will be highly
demanded on the ships of our surface fleet,” - Deputy Defence Minister Yury
Borisov told TASS.

Two assault helicopter carriers, called “Mistral”,
have been built for Russia by France but have not been transferred yet to the
Navy, after relations between Russia and the European Union have deteriorated
and sanctioned imposed after the unrest in Ukraine. The “Mistrals” were
supposed to be armed with Ka-52K “Katran” (marine version of the newest attack
helicopter) helicopters.

It was originally planned that the first
Ka-52K would be ready for testing in early 2015, but that development has been
delayed. According to Borisov, the operating conditions for helicopters at sea
are significantly different from terrestrial ones, therefore further
improvements in terms of materials and components are required.

“Katrans” were designed primarily to
provide fire-power support to landing forces, with key targets being tanks,
armored and unarmored combat machinery. They can also destroy enemy
helicopters.

Ka-52 is armed with rapid-fire 2A42-1 30 mm
guns. The weaponry may also include “Strelets” (Sagittarius) missile system
launchers, for guided missiles such as “Ataka” (Attack) and “Vihr-1” (Vortex),
and launchers for unguided type C-8 rockets.

The distinctive feature of supersonic
anti-tank missiles “Vihr,” with laser targeting, is the fact that even if the
pilot does not actually see the target, he can still fire with confidence, because
of a “hint” received from ground troops.

The Ka-52 also features high-performance
flight characteristics. Powerful gas turbine engines VK-2500 enable it to fly
at an altitude of over 5,000 meters. The hover ceiling is 4,000 meters, which
allows for take off and landing in hot climates and at high altitude. The
maximum speed of the helicopter is 300 kilometres per hour.

The “Katran” will have many features,
including stable anti-corrosion treatment, folding blades and wing panels. It
will be also be equipped with necessary weapons systems for naval battles.

The helicopter's marine version will carry
an expanded range of both guided and unguided weapons. It will be possible to
keep these weapons on combat alert round the clock and in all weather
conditions.

In the military-industrial complex where
they are being designed, the ship-based Ka-52K could potentially receive a new
airborne radar, which would allow it to use anti-ship missiles X-31 and X-35.
This factor makes the Ka-52K an absolutely unique fighting machine. Until
recently these anti-ship cruise missiles could only be used from Su-30 and
MiG-29K aircraft.